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A lot to prove
Another playoff letdown?
4/14/08 - By
Steve Flores
The San Jose Sharks annual right of passage is once
again rearing its ugly head. After a hard fought season of uneven and then
amazing play the team is once again doing its yearly 'let's find a truly
emotional, energy sapping way to lose scenario that will top last years'
scenario!
Yes folks the Sharks are at it again.
How a team as
talented as the Sharks can perennially find the multiple ways to lose as they
do is almost mind-boggling.
Game three of the NHL's Western Conference
Quarter Finals saw the Sharks open with a 3-goal barrage in the opening 3:30
minutes of the game! But that is where the solid play ended folks. From that
point on the Calgary Flames began levying hits and bodies that seemed to change
the way the Sharks played for the rest of the contest.
Yes the Flames
played dirty. Yes the Flames took liberties and yes the referees all but
ignored nearly all of it. But alas, I am not at all blaming this loss on the
officials. Believe me the Sharks earned this defeat on their own.
As
usual some guys played with heart and guile but most lacked the heart, desire
and urgency that the Flames exhibited even after going down by the three spot.
The Sharks reverted to basically the same team that they seem to
revert to every post-season.
I am not being a pessimist. My words are
realism people. The facts of the situation are that the Sharks realistic
chances of winning this series are pessimistic at best. That is the reality of
the situation. For those of you that chose to be happy go lucky,
flower-smellers then please be and do so. That is called denial. Denial is a
bad thing and if the Sharks share those same happy thoughts then they better
start making tee-times as soon as possible!
The Sharks that I saw on
Sunday night have more talent than any Sharks team form any NHL season. They
are not the leagues most earnest offensive power but they should have enough
skill players to score a goal during the games final 56 minutes and 30 seconds
of regulation. I am sorry optimists but Curtis Joseph 2008 is not exactly
primed Terry Sawchuk! But sadly they seem to be 'the same ole post-season
Sharks'.
The facts of the matter are as follows: The San Jose
Sharks have just suffered a major defeat. The loss was not only a defeat on the
scoreboard but a mentally draining downfall that history says will see the team
follow suit with no strong response in kind. I am a great believer in history
repeating itself and sadly the Sharks have a mentally weak history of response
to defeat in the post-season.
Some may call it the expected annual
choke-job, but it seems more and more correct to say that perhaps this is all
this team is capable of doing. Only the players themselves can take steps to
stop the rap. But from where I sit its déjà vu all over again
folks.
Contact Steve at stevybo@yahoo.com
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